For Your Child

Toddlers Need Protection from Household Cleaners

According to a new research study, the number of injuries to young children caused by exposure to household cleaning products has decreased almost by half since 1990. Still, nearly 12,000 children under the age of six need treatment in emergency rooms every year for accidental poisonings.

The good news is that the message that household cleaners are harmful is reaching some families.

Bleach was the cleaning product most commonly linked with injury, and the most common type of storage container involved was a spray bottle.

In fact, although rates of injuries from bottles with caps and other types of containers decreased during the study period, spray bottle injury rates remained constant, the researchers report.

"So many household products are sold in spray bottles these days, because for cleaning purposes they're really easy to use," says study author Lara B. McKenzie, Ph.D., a principal investigator at Nationwide Children's Hospital's Center for Injury Research and Policy.

Cleaning Product Bottles Look Attractive

Dr. McKenzie says that young kids are often attracted to a cleaning product's pretty label and colorful liquid, and may mistake it for juice or vitamin water.

"If you look at a lot of household cleaners in bottles these days, it's actually pretty easy to mistake them for sports drinks if you can't read the labels," she says.

Similarly, to a young child, an abrasive cleanser may look like a container of Parmesan cheese.

Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital examined national data on roughly 267,000 children age five and younger who were treated in emergency rooms after injuries with household cleaning products.

The findings were reported in the journal Pediatrics.

To prevent accidental injuries from household products, the Do Not Leave Bottles Unattended While in Use

Dr. Robert Geller, medical director of the Georgia Poison Control Center, says, "This study just confirms how often these accidents still happen, how disruptive they can be to health, and how expensive they are to treat.

"Often a young child gets exposed to these kinds of products when someone is cleaning, and leaves a bottle open on the counter because they're in the middle of using it," he says. "So a good reminder is to always close the product completely after using it, even if you plan to open it again in a few minutes."

Dr. McKenzie says if you do not want to keep spray bottles locked up, you should at least turn the nozzle to the closed position, which makes it a lot harder for a curious toddler to grab it and squeeze.

Parents who suspect their child has come in contact with a poison should immediately contact the Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222, which will direct callers to their local Poison Center. If a child is unconscious, not breathing, or having seizures, they should call 9-1-1.

Always consult your child's physician or other healthcare provider for more information.

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October 2010

Accidental Poisoning

More than 90 percent of all poison exposures occur in the home. Among children ages 5 and under, 57 percent of poison exposures are by non-pharmaceutical products such as cosmetics, cleaning substances, plants, pesticides, and art supplies, and 43 percent are by drugs and medications.

Most poisonings occur when parents are not paying close attention or watching children as closely as usual. Calls to poison control centers peak between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. In fact, because the hectic routine of getting dinner on the table causes so many lapses in parental attention, late afternoon has come to be known as "the arsenic hour" by poison center personnel.

If you find your child with an open or empty container of a toxic substance, your child may have been poisoned. Stay calm and act quickly:

Get the poison away from the child.

If the substance is still in the child's mouth, make him/her spit it out or remove it with your fingers (keep this along with any other evidence of what the child has swallowed).

Do not make the child vomit (your physician or poison control center will instruct you when it is necessary to make the child vomit).

Do not follow instructions on packaging regarding poisoning as these are often outdated; instead call your physician or poison control center immediately for instructions.

Call 911 right away, if your child has any of the following symptoms:

sore throat

trouble breathing

drowsiness, irritability, or jumpiness

nausea, vomiting, or stomach pain without fever

lip or mouth burns or blisters

unusual drooling

strange odors on your child's breath

unusual stains on your child's clothing

seizures or unconsciousness

Always consult your child's physician or other healthcare provider for more information.